Worlds.com was a 3D chat that started in 1995 and stayed up for nearly thirty years. You picked an avatar, walked around rooms made of polygons, and talked to whoever was standing there. Then the servers went quiet and everything went with them — the rooms, the avatars, the whole chat.
This is the work of not letting that be the end of it. The server is being rewritten from scratch in C++, and the original client is being patched so it can still be used today. It is not a remake or a lookalike: it is the same protocol, and it talks to the same WorldsPlayer people always used.
Three programs
| Program | What it is |
|---|---|
| WorldServer | The preserved server. The original protocol and nothing else. It is the reference, and it stays that way. |
| AikoWorlds | The modern server, built on the same code. SQLite, a capability announcement, room to grow. |
| WorldsClient | A modification of the Worlds client: chat encryption, a server selector, mods in Lua, and one security hole fewer. |
Start with a guide
Preserving something means other people can use it afterwards. Everything on this site is written to be followed, not admired.
| If you want to | Read |
|---|---|
| Get into a world at all | Using the client |
| Use the modified client | The modified client |
| Run your own server | Running a server |
| Write code that runs in the client | Writing a mod in Lua |
| Build a world | The Shaper |
| Make an avatar | RWX avatars |
| Understand how any of it works | The protocol · Inside the client |
Before you connect anywhere
Worlds was built in 1995 and it shows in the places that matter. Passwords travel in clear text, and an unmodified client will run code any server hands it. Neither of those is a rumour — both are in the protocol.
Read this before you install anything →
Where to go next
- History — what Worlds.com was, and how it ended.
- How it fits together — the four services Worlds was made of, and why this project has two servers.
- The blog — what is being worked on.